Germany’s Q2 economic growth surpasses initial estimate on exports
UK gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 0.7% in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2025, unrevised from the first estimate.
Funds
State Street ETF Turns Tech Volatility Into Income
August 16, 2026, 1:06 AM EDT. Europe’s fifth heatwave of the year is exposing a widening gap between the economic damage caused by extreme heat and what traditional business-interruption policies cover. Moody’s estimate…
Guggenheim Expands Income ETF Suite With 2 New Active Funds
Last week, on Thursday, August 20, Guggenheim Investments bolstered its library of active ETFs with the launch of two new funds. Both of the new ETFs offer their own distinct approaches to fostering income through activ…
Tokenized Stocks Fuel Growth in On-Chain Trading
Tokenized versions of stocks like Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) are growing faster than other categories of real-world assets moving onto blockchains, according to a recent report from CoinShares and Token Terminal. The tokenized…
Don’t Overlook Silver’s Potential Amid the New Gold Rally
With gold prices surging in recent weeks, it’s fair to assume that many advisors and investors are keeping close watch on where the precious metal goes from here. However, silver is also benefiting from the upswing and …
As U.S. Dollar Outlook Darkens, Watch Spot Gold ETFs Like AAAU
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s announcement that the Treasury could use $1 trillion of Treasury General Account money to fund bond buybacks is the latest indication of a darkening outlook for the U.S. dollar. As yie…
Canada July factory sales most likely down 0.2% - Statscan flash estimate
Canadian GDP growth slowed sharply in Q2, coming in weaker than expected at -1.6% on an annualized quarter-over-quarter basis, following a strong 2% gain in Q1.
Indexing Redefined, Part I: The RAFI Approach
When it comes to equities exposure, investors typically gravitate toward a passive, market-cap-weighted index as the default strategy. These strategies are often billed as an efficient, low-cost method to capture broad …
Poland’s July retail sales rise 3.9%, missing forecasts
Retail sales in Poland eased to 3.9% year-on-year in July 2026 from a 6.2% jump in the previous month, missing market forecasts of 4.5%.
Trends With Benefits #159: Steph Pomboy: AI Debt Binge, Credit Cracks, & Gold
Welcome to Trends with Benefits, the podcast that gives you an insider’s edge into finance, tech, and investing. Hosted by Ed Lopez, VanEck’s Head of Product Management. Explore the case for hard assets over paper, the …
Germany’s Merz to press cabinet for faster pro-growth reforms
Below is a roundup of news and analysis on a range of issues making headlines in Germany from Wednesday, August 27:
Dividends Are Found in the Tried & True
No, thanks. I absolutely do not want to start banking with a social media company. Elon Musk has been touting the idea of X Money since he took over Twitter back in 2022 and it is finally a reality… kind of.
What’s Driving the 2026 Industrials Sector Rally?
If one were to take a trip to Wall Street and ask investors which sector of the S&P 500 is offering the most attractive opportunities beyond the tech sector, would they be surprised to hear industrials come in as a top …
Rates, Not Crypto: Reading This Week’s Bitcoin Move
Advisors hunting for a crypto specific catalyst behind this week’s Bitcoin move will not find one. The driver sits in the rates complex. The minutes of the last FOMC meeting showed a committee more divided, and more res…
US health agencies report 55 cases of E. coli and salmonella infections tied to alfalfa sprouts
An outbreak of E. coli and salmonella that has sickened dozens of people across 15 states has been linked to an alfalfa grower in Minnesota, federal health officials said Friday.
Looking at International Stocks? Lean Into Emerging Markets, Instead
U.S. investors are facing quite a bit of concentration risk, even as markets seem to be broadening. Entering 2026, prior to all the geopolitical volatility, investors were clamoring for ex-U.S. equities. Now, despite th…
Why International Stocks Are Outpacing the U.S. Again
For 11 of the 12 years following the 2008 financial crisis, U.S. stocks beat international markets. But that trend has flipped: Over the past four years, international equities have taken the lead.
Labor Shortage Is Forcing a Robot Revolution in U.S. Manufacturing
The U.S. manufacturing sector is larger than most people realize, with 17% of world manufacturing value added – more than Japan, Germany, Korea, Italy, and France combined.
What Advisors Can Learn From the Investor Return Gap
Over the 10 years ended December 31, 2025, investors in U.S. mutual funds and ETFs earned an average annual return of 8.7%, compared with 9.9% for the funds themselves. According to Morningstar’s latest Mind the Gap res…
How AI & Tariffs Have Helped Drive Copper’s Summer Rally
To start with, copper itself had a fairly strong performance in July. As Jacob White, CFA, director, ETF product management, Sprott Asset Management noted, the price of spot copper was up 3.65% over the past month, as o…
White House Bitcoin Support Sparks This ETF
On the back of the White House’s cryptocurrency confab, which brought together policymakers and leaders of the digital asset community, Bitcoin notched a double-digit gain over August 19-20 — a rally that pumped new lif…
The Price of Being Right.
The comparison is understandable. Technological breakthroughs have a long history of attracting capital, capturing investors’ imaginations, and creating expectations that eventually prove difficult to satisfy. Today, en…
Why PSI is Outperforming Traditional Semiconductor ETFs in 2026
The fund tracks the Dynamic Semiconductor Intellidex Index. The rules-based index selects about 30 U.S. semiconductor companies.
Japan manufacturing expands as orders rise fastest since 2018, PMI shows
The acceleration in output growth, combined with near record selling price inflation and a sustained rise in employment, strengthens the case for the Bank of Japan to proceed with a rate hike at its September meeting. A…